Total Foam Rolling Techniques

total

foam rolling techniques

trade secrets of a personal trainer

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disclaimer and advisory

Before attempting any form of exercise, always ensure you have a safe working environment. Ensure that the floor surface you are on is non-slip, and do not stand on any rugs or mats that could move when you exercise. Also, clear your exercise space of items that could cause you harm if you collided with them; this includes furniture, pets and children. Pay particular attention to the amount of clearance you have above your head and remember that for some of the exercise moves you will be raising your hands above head height, so keep away from doorways and light fittings.

The information, workouts, health-related information and activities described in this publication are practised and developed by the author and should be used as an adjunct to your understanding of health and fitness and, in particular, strength training. While physical exercise is widely acknowledged as being beneficial to a participant’s health and well-being, the activities and methods outlined in this book may not be appropriate for everyone. It is fitness industry procedure to recommend all individuals, especially those suffering from disease or illness, to consult their doctor for advice on their suitability to follow specific types of activity. This advice also applies to any person who has experienced soft tissue or skeletal injuries in the past, those who have recently received any type of medical treatment or are taking medication and women who are, or think they may be, pregnant.

The author has personally researched and tried all of the exercises, methods and advice given in this book on himself and with many training clients. However, this does not mean these activities are universally appropriate and neither he nor the publishers are, therefore, liable or responsible for any injury, distress or harm that you consider may have resulted from following the information contained in this publication.

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contents Disclaimer and advisory

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1 the basics of exercising with a foam roller

What is foam rolling?

The S.A.F.E. trainer system (Simple, Achievable, Functional Exercise) How to use this book FAQs Finding your starting point Assess, don’t guess Fascia – the unsung hero Foam rolling to wipe away pain and unlock performance First you need to find your hot spots and erase pain with micro rolls Invest time to mobilise and massage with micro and macro rolls Monitor and maintain

8 15 19 20 25 27 34 36 39 41 42

2 the portfolio of moves

Which moves should I do?

Erase pain moves Invest time to mobilise Monitor and maintain (mostly macro) Don’t waste your time

43 47 57 83 104

3 foam roller workout

Targeted and total sessions Invest and mobilise – total sessions Monitor and maintain

And finally…

Fitness glossary About the author Index

110 113 118

123 125 140 142

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the basics of exercising with a foam roller

what is foam rolling and how does it work?

Foam rolling is a bit like giving yourself a sports massage.

Instead of a masseur’s hands applying pressure to relieve muscle tension and discomfort, you apply this yourself. Using your bodyweight on a foam roller you can target problem areas of muscle and fascia (of which more later) and increase your flexibility and recovery time following exercise.

Foam rolling has seen an amazing rise in popularity in the world of health and fitness and has been universally embraced by coaches, professional athletes and those who simply try it and experience almost instant benefits and results.

Nothing unusual about that – but foam rolling is different. Most new crazes or trends happen because a product is new, innovative, technical and, more often

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than not, has a large company behind it spending a fortune on marketing. But with foam rolling the growth in popularity has been ‘organic’ – via word of mouth rather than due to an advertising campaign. Why is this? Well, foam rolling works. It has a number of benefits, which include pain relief, improved posture, improved performance and, for me the most relevant, manageable, improved and maintainable range of motion in joints. But there isn’t a lot of evidence in the fitness industry to tell us why. There are plenty of examples of activities that work but can’t be fully explained and even drugs (natural and man-made) that are used globally but aren’t fully understood – aspirin being a great example. It’s been commercially available since 1899, but even in 1966 it was still unclear how and why it worked, and today there are still discoveries being made into ‘new’ uses for the drug.

Foam rolling presents us with a similar list of ‘unknowns’, which are unlikely to be solved any time soon. The reality is that research is generally only done on products by equipment manufacturers who have something to gain (or protect).

With foam rolling, few people dispute the feel-good benefits, which in turn means defining the actual physiological process is less urgent than for products that make big claims but struggle to deliver.

So, what are the various theories about how and why foam rolling works? I’ve put these theories in my personal order of preference.

theory 1: foam rolling softens fascia Fascia is a fantastic substance that exists throughout the body. Most people understand the function of muscles and some can explain the purpose of ligaments and tendons, but many personal trainers are oblivious to the importance and relevance of fascia throughout the body. Fascia is a fibrous tissue which connects and secures other structures to each other – it’s often described as being similar to cling film in that it wraps muscle fibres together. But this description does it a disservice as fascia is far more versatile than this. Here are some of its uses: l provides a shiny sheath for muscles to slide or glide through during contractions l suspends organs (especially inter-abdominal objects) inside the torso l performs a similar function to that of ligaments and tendons to transmit movement from muscles to attachment points on bones.

The theory of how foam rolling affects fascia makes a lot of sense if you first understand that fascia has the ability to adhere (get stuck) to other surfaces but not always in a good way. It has been suggested that fascia itself becomes stiff

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or ‘scarred’, which inhibits the ability of the muscles to which it connects to move and function correctly. Similar to how a talented sports masseur can feel changes of texture beneath the skin and target them, foam rolling – often described as a ‘poor man’s sports massage’ – also has a positive effect on fascia.

Now let’s talk about ground substance. You may have never heard of this stuff before (I certainly hadn’t come across it in all my years as a fitness professional), but it turns out that ground substance is as important as fascia. Fascia is bathed in ground substance, a lubricating fluid/gel that responds positively to movement, pressure and torsion, turning from a thick gel to a fluid. Inactivity makes the ground substance thicken – not a good thing.

The process of foam rolling changes the consistency of ground substance from a thicker gel to a fluid. The medical term for this magical transformation is ‘thixotropy’. In my head, ground substance is, therefore, ‘the juice that makes you move’! The structure of fascia is a simple mix of collagen, water and lubricating ground substance. If the ground substance hardens due to inactivity, fatigue or postural overload, fluid is forced out of the structure, which results in the closing up of the gaps in the honeycomb formation of the collagen. Foam rolling seems to increase the fluidity of the ground substance, which in turn increases or maintains the fascia’s ability to retain fluid in a positive way.

To have this positive effect on fascia with a foam roller, the technique used needs to be made up of: long, slow, sweeping movements.

theory 2: foam rolling improves quality of muscle tissue The idea of ‘improving muscle tissue’ is a bit vague, I think, and an oversimplification of what happens when we foam roll areas of the body. The theory is similar to the idea of tenderising a piece of meat by hitting it with a hammer, or rolling out dough with a rolling pin. If either of these actually translated to what is happening in the body, we would effectively be suggesting that beating the structure of muscles to pulp is a good thing. But, I think the analogy being used here is the problem – not the process; tenderising dead meat is nothing like massaging muscle.

Muscles create and maintain structural integrity (our posture) by working in conjunction with the muscle opposing it (its antagonist). Without doubt, our posture is the biggest clue that the body gives us about our well-being and the condition of all our soft tissues. Any damage, inflammation or dysfunction will show up ‘downstream and upstream’ of the actual problem. So, an issue in the foot left untreated will lead to problems in the calf, which can lead to problems around the

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knee, i.e. upstream. A problem in your lower back may start to manifest itself as an issue in your buttock that then seems to spread down the back of your leg into your hamstring, i.e. downstream. Structural integrity of the muscles produces ‘correct’ biomechanics, which in effect means that all the muscles, ligaments, tendons and fascia are working as a well-disciplined team rather than as individual heroes.

Foam rolling is basically the self-administered version of ‘petrissage’, the form of massage where muscles are kneaded deeply and firmly. To generate similar outcomes to ‘hands-on’ massage, we aren’t trying to squash muscles and stretch them out like we do to dough with a rolling pin by constantly changing direction to increase its surface area. Instead, with foam rollers, we should visualise the direction of the muscle between its origin and insertion (the two main attachment points) and roll between those points with as much downward force (pain) as you can cope with. In my experience, foam rolling works best on larger muscles like thighs, hamstrings, calves and the upper back.

To have this positive effect on muscle tissue with a foam roller, the technique used needs to be made up of: long, slow, sweeping movements following the long axis of the muscle.

theory 3: foam rolling numbs ‘trigger points’ Trigger points (if they actually exist) are ‘hot spots’ around the body where there is a natural tendency for increased amounts of tension or inflammation where a selection of muscles connect to perform their tasks. Think of these areas as being like a road junction where a number of major roads all cross each other. The roads that carry the most traffic are more likely to become blocked when they are overloaded. You can actually feel this ‘congestion’ beneath the skin if you apply direct pressure on a trigger point. These hot spots seem to magically reduce in sensitivity when treated with sports massage or foam rolling.

It’s argued that there are over 100 potential hot spots around the body (far too many to go into in detail), but if you have a moderate understanding of biomechanics and anatomy, they are easy to identify with your thumb and some careful pressure. You will feel a hard, sensitive nodule. Often a twitch can be felt in the muscle by running your finger perpendicular (at right angles) to the muscle’s direction.

Of these 100 hot spots, targeting just six areas with a foam roller should have an overall noticeable effect, not because we are ignoring the other 94 but because these also get attention when rolling the most significant six. From the top, these are:

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l pectorals (chest) l psoas (torso) l piriformis (buttocks) l iliotibial (IT) band (outer thigh) l quadriceps (thighs) l soleus (lower leg).

These are the muscles most often affected by overuse, fatigue, poor posture and especially sitting down too much, and there are massive benefits to targeting these areas as a whole rather than trying to pinpoint the exact trigger point.

Confusingly, trigger points aren’t widely researched or acknowledged by the medical profession as even existing, let alone being responsive to treatment. Many people in the fitness industry would be surprised by this as the term ‘trigger point’ is commonly used, but this is another case of a method being widely prescribed without personal trainers questioning the source. However, while there is much scepticism, I can honestly say, from personal experience and having witnessed improvements with clients, I know that targeting these spots is a worthwhile exercise. In the portfolio of moves I have included some ‘micro-isolation’ moves that pinpoint these hot spots, in addition to the rolling techniques that address wider areas of muscle fibres.

To have this positive effect on trigger points with a foam roller, the technique used needs to be made up of: small repetitive movements on the trigger points (‘hot spots’) around the body.

theory 4: foam rolling breaks up scar tissue Scar tissue sounds really dramatic but tissue can be scarred quite easily, to varying degrees. At the worst end of the spectrum are muscles that have been ruptured (completely torn apart) and will have visible and feelable permanent scar tissue. While massage and foam rolling will seem to improve its functionality, scar tissue is also purposefully less malleable than the original fibres as a means of protecting that area from repeat tearing. The downside of this protective reaction by the body is that the pathway of nerves can become blocked, leading to referred pain symptoms, i.e. pain either upstream or downstream from the problem. At the other end of the spectrum, muscle fibres are damaged and scar on a regular basis if you perform intense physical activity. The most common example of this is DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). We used to think that DOMS was trapped lactic acid but that theory has been dismissed, and it is now thought to be due to tiny tears in the muscle. Sports massage has for many years proved

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an effective solution to managing this type of damage. If we treat foam rolling as in essence a self-administered sports massage, it follows that the benefits will be similar. Realistically, however, scar tissue won’t disappear completely (if it did, surgeons around the world would be recommending massage to improve their results after surgery). Scar tissue is a mass of fibres that are more randomly connected than their unscarred predecessors. Healthy fibres are more uniform, fitting together neatly next to each other and moving freely against each other, with all of their cells having a good blood supply. Scar tissue in comparison is less ‘organised’, is matted together and has a poorer blood supply.

A foam roller is a very blunt weapon so it’s hard to roll on very specific spots.

This means, unless you have a large area of scar tissue that is all parallel to the surface of the skin, it’s unlikely you will be able to pinpoint the spot with a roller.

This is why also having a hard ball like a lacrosse or cricket ball to roll on is good because you can get very specific with the spot that you want to target. However, scar tissue will always be scar tissue no matter how much attention you give it, so, logically, I am more inclined to think that working on the entire muscle around a scarred area is more productive than just beating up the damaged spot.

To have this positive effect on scar tissue with a foam roller, the technique used needs to be made up of: long, slow, sweeping movements following the long axis of the muscle with shorter sweeps across and ‘against the grain’ of the muscle fibres.

theory 5: foam rolling affects the way the central nervous system deals with pain with the release of chemicals from the brain This is the newest theory associated with using foam rollers and it is radically different from all the others. Brace yourself, this starts out sounding technical!

Diffuse noxious inhibitory control (DNIC) is one of several varieties of chemical reactions, by which the brain adjusts the ‘volume’ of pain/danger signals that originate in the body. DNIC means that the brain blocks pain signals from travelling up the spinal cord to the brain once it has detected that there is something causing pain downstream. DNIC is triggered by a sustained sensation, such as immersing your hand in cold water, suppressing the pain not just from the cold wet area, but in distant areas as well. In other words, if your foot hurts, and you put your hand in iced water until it numbs, the resulting DNIC will cause both the hand and the foot to hurt less. The effect is temporary, of course, which is why I’m not convinced that DNIC is the only theory behind the positive results of foam rolling. For example, when I roll I feel better throughout the entire day whereas,

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taking the cold water analogy, the pain relief from DNIC is only as temporary as the coldness. I’m absolutely not dismissing it, as the reality is there has been more research done on pain management than there will ever be into the effects of rolling.

To my knowledge no proper research has yet been done to test chemical reactions whilst foam rolling, so until a large scale study* is completed specifically to explore this I think it’s best to acknowledge DNIC but put more faith in the theory that foam rolling creates mechanical outcomes rather than chemical peaks and troughs.

To clarify, the theory behind DNIC is that, if there is pain downstream, the brain will send a response down the spinal cord to deal with it. For example, if you roll your buttocks and it hurts (a nice hurt, but still it hurts), that info is sent to the brain suggesting there is pain/danger in that particular area. In response the brain, knowing that it is a ‘good pain’, sends chemicals down the spinal cord to convince the body part that actually all is well, allowing you to continue.

To have this positive effect on a muscle with a foam roller, the technique used needs to be: on large areas. Theoretically, all foam rolling will induce this response as long as ‘pain’ is inflicted on areas of the body, so, logically, the bigger the area the better as it will induce a greater response from the brain.

You may have heard the phrase self-myofascial release (SMR) used when foam rolling is discussed. For clarity SMR is the general term used to describe most types of manual therapy that is looking to have an effect upon the soft tissue under the skin, e.g. massage with hands, rollers or electronic devices – so for clarity all foam rolling activities are SMR but not all SMR is foam rolling.

* Specific studies would require rolling to be performed whilst the participant was hooked up to a monitoring device such as an MRI scanner.

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The ultimate guide to foam rolling—packed full of easy-to-follow exercises and step-by-step photos.

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Note Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the content of this book is as technically accurate and as sound as possible, neither the author nor the publishers can accept responsibility for any injury or loss sustained as a result of the use of this material.

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP www.bloomsbury.com Bloomsbury is a trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First edition 2014 Copyright © 2014 Steve Barrett ISBN (print) 978 1 4729 0664 9 ISBN (epub): 978 1 4729 1148 3 ISBN (epdf): 978 1 4729 1149 0 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without the prior permission in writing of the publishers.

Steve Barrett has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Acknowledgements Cover photographs © ESC Creative LLP: www.esccreative.com Inside photographs © ESC Creative LLP with the exception of the following, pp. 28 and 34 © Shutterstock.com Illustrations © Shutterstock Designed by James Watson Commissioned by Charlotte Croft Edited by Sarah Cole This book is produced using paper that is made from wood grown in managed, sustainable forests. It is natural, renewable and recyclable. The logging and manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

Typeset in 10.25pt on 13.5pt URWGroteskLig by Margaret Brain, Wisbech Printed and bound in China by C & C Offset Printing Co 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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